


Vanilla Latte

by Cloud_Candy



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Toast being a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28235544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Candy/pseuds/Cloud_Candy
Summary: Sykkuno wasn’t a big coffee drinker to begin with, but today he just needed the caffeine in his system. So with a voice devoid of emotion he spoke, “Coffee as dark as my soul” before adding ‘please’ at the end.Without missing a beat Corpse replied with, “So vanilla latte with whipped cream?”
Relationships: Corpse Husband/Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 393
Collections: Corpsekkuno Fic Exchange: Holidays 2020 edition!





	Vanilla Latte

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SeiyaRei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeiyaRei/gifts).



> Thank you [Molly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollyroll/works) for being my beta! Go check her works, it's amazing! And thank you for holding this event, I had fun participating in it!
> 
> Hehe Seiya I hope you like this gift!
> 
> Disclaimer: I will erase this fic if any of the characters here express their discomfort with stories written about them.

It was 10 AM. He was in a class, just staring mindlessly at the projector screen as he wrote down notes. There were eyebags under his eyes, his skin was sickly skin pale, and he looked like he would collapse after walking seven steps.

Sykkuno glared at the teacher but quickly schooled his face into a neutral one. He hadn’t slept at all because of this one particular class’s project that drained the hell out of him. His friends suffered the same fate and some didn’t hide their annoyed gaze.

The class was quiet, except for the teacher’s voice, droning on and on about a subject most of the students would soon forget. Some chatted in hushed whispers, completely ignoring the lesson. Sykkuno glanced at his phone to check the time. “ _ There’s still 1 hour left _ ,” he thought, before pocketing it back and trying his best to stay focused on the lesson.

He noticed Rae had already given up, discreetly sneaking a sleep while looking down at her opened book, her hand still holding a pen. Most people did the same, but either the teacher didn’t notice or pretended not to.

Sykkuno heard the metaphorical ticking of the clock and felt his eyelids grow heavier. He tried scribbling something on the back of his binder book, to no avail. He still felt sleepy. He glanced at Toast and found him blatantly playing games on his phone. Besides Toast, Scarra also did the same so he assumed they were playing together. 

Oh how much he wanted to do the same, but the thought of being rude kept him from doing so. He adjusted his position to sit up straight and pay attention to the lecture.

After what felt like years the teacher ended her presentation and suddenly she got everyone’s attention again. The class ended and Sykkuno noticed the teacher had forgotten about the assignment they had due that day. He was a little mad, and grabbed his pen a little bit tighter. He and his friends stayed up all night doing the assignment! The sleep they sacrificed! The gaming time! 

Though many were feeling the same, neither of them reminded the teacher. Class solidarity, probably there’s some people that hadn’t finished. 

Sykkuno stretched his back then stood up from his desk. He saw Poki waking up Rae and Lily waking up Michael. He overheard Yvonne complaining and he mentally agreed the lesson had been extremely boring.

“I swear to God this teacher- Ugh.” Rae said.

“Dropping out seems a good option,” Poki sighed. They all nodded their heads, but knew there was no way their parents would let them.

“I just want to sleep.” Toast groaned and received a couple of nods from his friends. 

“I wish, but we still have a class after this.” Yvonne looked at her phone. “Hmm... we have around thirty five minutes.”

Scarra rubbed his face with his hand and blinked a few times, “You know what, I’ll skip the next one”

“But the attendance-” Sykkuno tried to reason

“Yeah, fuck the attendance record!” Toast added, “I deserve some sleep in my comfortable bed, right now!”

All of them except Sykkuno agreed and decided to ditch the class too. As Lily noted, “That teacher said it himself anyway, if all we're gonna do in the class is sleep it’s best to not show up at all. Hey we’re granting his wish.”

To be honest, Sykkuno wanted to ditch the class too, but he decided to attend anyway. Someone still needed to take notes and he was willing to do that for his friends. Toast took pity on him and promised to pay for his coffee later, well... not like Sykkuno would let him do such a thing, anyway.

After saying goodbye to his friends, he walked to their favourite coffee shop. It was small and cozy and he’d be damned if the drinks and cake didn’t taste delicious.

He walked inside, the smell of coffee was fragrant but he couldn’t find the energy to pay full attention to his surroundings. His mind was blank and couldn’t choose what to drink. He wasn’t a big coffee drinker to begin with, but today he just needed the caffeine in his system. So with a voice devoid of emotion he spoke, “Coffee as dark as my soul” before adding ‘please’ at the end.

Without missing a beat the barista replied with, “So vanilla latte with whipped cream?”

Sykkuno whipped his head up so fast his neck hurt a bit. He knew the owner of the deep voice. It was the nice barista his friends had told him about. He hadn’t ever actually talked to him, usually his friends handled the ordering... but he remembered hearing his voice. 

He felt his face heating up before he stumbled out his reply “Yes. Wait. I mean no. Wait. Vanilla latte sounds good, but I need something strong. Let me take a look on the menu again.” He squinted hard to the menu on the table but couldn’t register anything. “Okay never mind please just give me vanilla latte with a triple espresso shot.”

“You look very tired, I will agree with the espresso.” The barista smiled, “Do you still want the whipped cream?”

Sykkuno stayed silent for a moment before nodding his head yes. The barista also asked him whether to make it cold or hot.

“Cold please.” He paid for the drinks and the barista gave him the receipt and told him to wait to get the drinks ready.

Sykkuno went to sit in the nearest chair and when he finally registered what just happened he buried his face into his hands. Unbeknownst to him, the barista glancing at him, his eyes crinkling with a fond smile.

After some minutes his name was called and almost immediately he jumped to the order desk. 

“Vanilla latte for Sykkuno.”

“Yup that’s me. It’s Sykkuno here.” When he realized what he just said he wanted to hide in embarrassment. ‘ _ Why did I say that? Oh Jesus what if he thinks I am weird. _ ’

The barista asked whether to bag it or not which Sykkuno refused and took his drink. His eyes wandered to the name tag pinned on the chest and quickly thanked the barista, “Thank you Mr. Corpse.” Which earned him a laugh from the other man.

No longer feeling sleepy, he quickly drank his Vanilla Latte to stop himself from embarrassing himself even further. 

Sykkuno already stayed long enough and he didn’t want to make things more awkward. Just as he turned to leave, Corpse asked him something. “I noticed you aren’t with your friends today.” 

Sykkuno almost choked because he hadn’t expected the other man to start a conversation. He turned back and quickly replied, “Yeah, my friends kinda ditched the next class. I don’t blame them though.”

Just as he was about to add more he noticed the clock on the wall and jumped in horror because it’s almost the time for his next class. “Oh shoot, I’m gonna be late! I am sorry Mr. Corpse but I need to go now.”

“It’s fine. Good luck.” Sykkuno couldn’t see it but he felt the smile from the barista’s voice.

He took a sip before half-running to his next classroom. Fortunately the teacher hadn’t arrived yet so he was safe. He took a seat two behind the front row and placed his binder while still holding his drinks.

The whole situation really woke him up, not because the coffee but from the cute barista. With the teacher's arrival he opened his binder books and listened to the material being teached. 

He replayed the conversation in his head and felt his face heating up a little bit. “ _ I asked for coffee as dark as my soul, and he gave me Vanilla. Vanilla! _ ” He gruntled and hid his mouth with his hand, trying to gain some composure before turning back to the lesson to distract himself.

Sykkuno drank the Vanilla Latte more and thought “I need more coffee.”

\----

After the class ended he hurriedly walked back to the apartment he shared with Toast, still holding the cup. 

He placed it in the sink and went to his room to change his clothes. When he returned to wash the cup, he felt the world slow down as he watched Toast picking up that plastic cup and throwing it in the trash can. 

Toast caught his stare, “Oh, welcome back.”

Sykkuno closed his mouth he hadn’t noticed was open. “Yeah I am back,” he said as he cleared his throat. He knew Toast would catch something was going on, but he also knew Toast knew that he tried to hide it... therefore Toast wouldn’t be asking him about it.

He could still feel the judging look from Toast and quickly tried to steer the conversation away “So I assume you have a nice sleep huh? Great.” He moved closer to the dish rack, grabbed a glass and filled it.

Toast shook his head, “Nah I didn’t sleep, I came back for gaming. Definitely worth it..”

“Mhm. What game is it?” Sykkuno poured water into his glass, and drank it.

Toast leaned on the kitchen table and just nonchalantly said, “Ohh, it’s SCP. I think it’s so funny that you can also see your own corpse at the same place you die when you respawn.” 

Upon a mention of the word ‘corpse’, Sykkuno choked on the water and spilled some on the floor. He coughed and panicked a bit but Toast just took a napkin on the drawer and handed it over to Sykkuno, which then he used to wipe the mess.

“Sorry that uhh…”

Toast nodded while placing his hand on his chin, as if stroking his nonexistent beard. “Corpse huh? The one that works at the Septic?”

Sykkuno’s eyes were blown wide, Toast was perceptive yes, but to guess this far? How?

Toast fixed him a smug look “You’re always interested when our friends talk about him, you sneak glances at him sometimes. You kept the cup even if it was empty, you reacted strangely when I threw it and when I mentioned the barista name. You’re so predictable, Sykkuno.”

Sykkuno whispered, “Only to you.” before admitting it was true. 

Toast took pity on him and decided not to tease his friend any further. The matter was dropped and they walked to their perspective room so Sykkuno could rest. Just before Sykkuno entered his room Toast spoke to him “I know you’re a hoarder, but you can always go back for a new cup.” He added as he wiggled his eyebrow, “So you can meet that barista again.” 

Sykkuno groaned and entered his room quickly. T he last thing he heard before closing the door was Toast's laughter .

\----

Turned out he went back to the Septic coffee shop sooner than he expected. 

They had gathered up in Scarra’s apartment, just 2 rooms beside his and Toast’s, to do another group project. Lily was already half dead, resting her head on Michael’s shoulder, trying to fight sleep. Rae focused her attention on the laptop in front of her, which kinda scared Sykkuno because he didn’t see Rae blink even once. 

Pokimane stared at the ceiling taking a deep breath, and suggested that they take a rest. Scarra lowered the speaker's volume, his eyes were dry from the constant staring at the laptop's screen, and agreed with Poki. 

Yvone whispered ‘Thank God’ and drank water from her bottle. Toast yawned and immediately closed his laptop. He flopped on the sofa, joining Poki in staring at the ceiling. All of them let out a chorus of “Yes” and joined the staring fiesta.

Sykkuno himself was tired, they were only half done with the project and they had worked on it for 5 hours. But a rest was needed or else they would go crazy.

Suddenly a thought came up to him and he felt his face heated up a bit. He gathered some courage mentally, before voicing out his suggestions. “Hey guys, let’s have some coffee. I’ll go buy them..”

He could see Toast’s smirk, which fortunately others didn’t notice. Rae was already shouting her order and the others soon followed. Yvonne and Poki offered to go with him but he refused. 

“Sykkuno you are tired too, we can help you to carry all the drinks!” Yvonne argued.

“It’s fine guys, I also want to take a breather,” Sykkuno replied as he stood up and walked towards the door. “Preferably alone.”

Not finding it in themselves to argue, Poki and Yvonne just accepted it “Okay...if you say so. We will send our order in the group chat in case you forget it again!”

Sykkuno nodded, “Yup, see you guys later.” With that he grabbed his hoodie and headed outside.

Inside the apartment, Toast looked at the Septic’s coffee shop instagram and hid his laugh. 

_ We accept delivery! Just contact our number xxx-xxx. _

“What a simp,” he muttered.

\----

“Okay you can do this.” Sykkuno pep himself before walking towards the coffee shop. One thing he also liked about Septic was that they opened super early. It was currently 6 AM and from the glass wall he already saw some students lining up. Not that much, but the fact they were there meant they suffered the same fate.

Upon noticing the time, Sykkuno felt disappointed. “What am I getting excited for, he probably doesn’t have a shift this early.”

“Wait, get a grip Sykkuno you’re here for the coffee!” He scolded himself as he opened the door. Still, his eyes immediately aimed at the cashier place where he usually was. He almost squealed when he saw the barista was there. He scrolled through his twitter while waiting in the line to stop himself from staring.

When it was his time to order, he finally let himself look. He looked amazing as always. 

“May I take your order?” 

Sykkuno fumbled with his phone then reading the coffee orders. He wondered how he could read it well. Corpse typed out the order in a tablet and when he finished he told him the total price.

Sykkuno paid for the drinks and took the receipt. This time he kept the receipt nicely in his wallet, not crumpled in his pocket, because Lily would kill him if he did. 

Corpse was clearly skilled, judging from how fast he made the drink and how delicious it tasted. He watched as Corpse pour the drinks in the plastic cups, and move on to the next drinks. He found it fascinating and continued to see what he can while also doing his best to do it discreetly from his seat.

When it was finished Corpse laid out the drinks on the counter, and prepared two paper bags. “Drinks for Sykkuno”

“Here!” Sykkuno walked towards and waited until Corpse finished putting his drinks on the bags. While waiting he noticed that there was no other customer yet, so he braced himself and started a light chat. “So you also have morning shifts?”

Corpse looked at him, maybe it was tiredness but Sykkuno saw the man looked a bit shocked. It was back to normal quickly though and Corpse shifted his attention back to the plastic cups on his hands. “I actually don’t, I covered my friend’s shift today.”

Sykkuno thanked Jesus up above for his luck. “Ohh, that’s nice.” Inside of his mind he added “ _ It’s nice because I could meet you today. _ ”

Corpse finished bagging the drinks and handed it over. Sykkuno hesitated a bit and gathered his courage to ask Corpse for his number. 

Sykkuno immediately regretted what he said, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to! Really!” 

He heard the barista chuckle and felt his face heated up again. 

“I was actually planning to write it on your cup, but I didn’t know which one is yours.” Corpse took a tissue and wrote down his number. “I can’t refuse if you ask for my number first, can I?”

Sykkuno felt like he could die happy now. He took the tissue, folded it and placed it nicely in his pocket. After saying goodbye he rushed back to Scarra’s apartment. He felt like he ran a lot these days after leaving the cafe. 

When he arrived he gave the drinks to Poki, which she shared with the others. He excused himself to the bathroom, immediately copied the number he recently got. He texted the number saying “Hi Mr. Corpse, it’s me Sykkuno :)” before he went back to his friends.

When he was typing a report on his assignment, he received, “Hello Sykkuno, I hope we can be good friends. -Corpse.”

He held his glee and typed back a response. Ignoring the suspicious look he got from Toast.

\---

Since then they kept chatting regularly. It consisted of Sykkuno telling about his day or Corpse telling about the customer he met. Sometimes about the movies and the animes they watched. Or even about music.

Everything felt like a dream. The pillow was fluffier, the food was more delicious, the water was more refreshing. The world became brighter all of sudden and it began just from a simple meeting. 

Each time his phone got notification from Corpse, he felt happiness burst inside of him. Suddenly he could understand the feelings of highschool romance anime Corpse recommended for him.

He still visited the coffee shop. More often than he usually was but he blamed it on the busy period of time. 

Unfortunately the happy thoughts didn’t last for long. 

Things would have been perfect, if only classes didn’t exist.

Sykkuno liked studying, he enjoyed learning new things. But right now he just felt stressed out. The burden of classes, group projects, exams, had taken a toll on him and he just felt tired. He wanted to drop everything, make all the worries disappear, but he couldn’t.

Time passed and Sykkuno felt like he wasn’t improving much. The test became harder, projects demanded more research... Sykkuno didn’t like how he couldn’t handle his classes anymore. He started to get anxiety from the thought that his grades were slipping. 

He was doing his best, but he thought it wasn’t enough. He didn’t know what to do anymore. 

Sykkuno was in his room, books and laptop in front of him. There was also a glass of warm tea on his table, full with sugar.

He opened his book and let out a deep sigh. He needed to study, to review his lesson. He already skipped it for days, skipping it any longer would be bad for him in the future.

He stared at the collection of words in front of him. There was a pencil on his hand, ready to underline the important things, but he couldn’t find it. He re-read the phrase so many times but nothing makes sense inside his head. Normally he would understand it quickly, but this time he felt very lost. 

He wondered if it was the stress or if he was really being stupid right now. He knew he was smart, he could do this. But now he felt like crying. No he couldn’t do this. It’s too much for him to handle and he wanted nothing more but to throw his books out the window.

But he couldn’t, and it was overwhelming.

Biting his lips, Sykkuno tried to calm himself down, gulping the tea beside him, and tried to read it again. 

But he still couldn’t understand a single damn thing. The world felt like it was spiralling around him. He felt dizzy, exhausted, stressed out. He wanted out. Out from everything, just get him out.

Sykkuno heard his phone vibrating and was brought back to reality. He grabbed his phone and noticed a mark on his arm. He might have dug his nails there unconsciously again. He paid it no mind and opened his phone.

It was from Corpse, saying he had just done finishing up. Sykkuno smiled and sent out a short reply. One thing he was grateful for, Corpse texting him to relieve some tension from studying. 

Something about the man just made him relax. When he thought about it, Corpse wasn’t related to anything about his university life. Maybe that’s why it felt nice texting with him. He didn’t feel judged or anything, and he didn’t have to worry about anything.

They continued to text until it was 12 AM. During the chat he had moved from his study table to his bed to be more comfortable. The books were left untouched. 

Noticing the time Sykkuno wanted to excuse himself to go back to study. But before he could press send, Corpse asked him if he wanted to play some games together. 

Sykkuno contemplated for a while before deciding to accept Corpse’s invitation. If he couldn’t understand a single thing he might as well take some rest first. A few rounds couldn’t hurt right?

When they were finished the tea had turned cold. He looked at the time and it showed 3 AM. He tried to remember his schedule and groaned when he realized tomorrow he had a morning class. He closed his books and his laptop. He could start reviewing tomorrow. 

But things never go as planned. 

Each day he promised himself and each day he broke that promise. Using the same excuses as yesterday.

Sykkuno could already feel his grade slipping by. Each day he grew more anxious because he felt he didn’t study enough, and it made him lose sleep. 

He also missed some assignments. Thankfully his friends got his back, so he could still finish them right before it was collected. Toast confronted him about it, saying he should stop getting distracted. 

He knew Toast was right, and he tried his best to focus on studying. But every time he opened his book, his mind only reminded him that exam’s were getting near, and he felt hopeless. 

He started to grow more quiet. Only spoke when spoken to. He felt distant with his friends and he didn’t like it.

He tried his best to socialize with his friends, but it felt so forced. He didn’t know why something so simple, something he loved to do, suddenly became too hard. It took so much energy in him so at some point he just stopped trying.

Sykkuno kept telling himself that his friends had their own worries. No need to take care of an extra burden like himself. But they did. His friends showed concern but Sykkuno felt guilty about it. He didn’t want to make his friends worried. So he said he was okay and shut himself up

In his bed, shaking his head, he covered his face with his hands and slowly dragged it down. He tried to calm himself down, saying things would be alright. After the final exams were over, when it was time for holiday again, things would turn back the way it was. He just needed to wait for weeks, until the semester was over. Then he could try to  _ fix _ his emotions. At least it wouldn’t be forever...

For now all he needed was to hang on, to survive. He would be fine. At least, he hoped he would be.

Things just got worse.

The texts from Corpse became less frequent each day. Sykkuno freaked out, wondering what went wrong. Was it something that he did? Was it something he said? Was he boring? Did he offend him? 

Texting with Corpse had become the main source of Sykkuno’s interaction with people. It had become the main thing for Sykkuno to let go his worries, and to distract himself from the anxiety he had. Everytime he waited for the notifications to come up, he would reply as fast as he could.

Sykkuno didn’t want to lose Corpse too. What else would he have then? He tried to save their relationship by texting first, but he didn’t get any replies anymore. 

Sykkuno became afraid to press ‘send’ every time, what if he was right and Corpse was annoyed with him? But still he texted him first, hoping for the slightest bit of contact. 

One day, just as he woke up, he saw a notification that Corpse texted him and was relieved for a while. But soon the feeling changed into dread. He avoided opening the text by stalling his time, making excuses in his head ‘maybe after I shower’ or ‘after I clean up my table’. 

He felt he was being silly but still he stalled it. When he ran out of excuses he finally opened the phone, and how he wished he listened to himself and never opened it.

‘Let’s not text each other for a while.’

Sykkuno’s heart was aching. He wanted to blame his pain to something, or anything, to help him ease his mind. But there’s nothing. His mind kept whispering that it was his fault. Everything was his fault and no wonder Corpse also left him.

He didn’t have anything to blame except himself.

Suddenly he felt like he lost too much energy. He just woke up but he felt so tired. He was silently grateful it was Sunday. Feeling dejected he laid his phone on the desk and cried himself to sleep. 

\---

He woke up from the sound of knocking on his door. He groaned and opened his phone to check the time. He had slept for an hour, but it felt longer than that. There was a sound of knocking again and Sykkuno forced himself to stand. Rubbing his eyes, he opened the door and saw Toast.

Clearing his throat he tried to force his voice to come out, “Hey, what’s up Toast?”

Toast’s eyes glanced on his eyes, but didn’t mention anything about it, “You didn’t come out for breakfast, I thought you would like some eggs and bacon. There’s still some for you on the table.”

“Huh Toast? I thought you didn’t eat breakfast? Usually you wake up late-”

“Yeah but you do. I will wait for you in the lounge.”

Sykkuno whispered ‘give me a moment’ and headed out to the en suite bathroom. His eyes were quite puffy and he wondered if Toast was just being nice and didn’t point it out. He washed his face. The cold water woke him up more and he was reminded by the text he got.

He felt like crying again but he held it in, he didn’t want to be questioned about it. He forced himself to smile and saw the reflection on the mirror. It looked so fake. He splashed water on his face again and headed out towards the longue.

He saw Toast sitting on the sofa, with one plate of eggs and bacon and the other already half eaten. Toast noticed him and waved him over.

They ate their breakfast in silence. Sykkuno still didn’t know what prompted Toast to cook that early, but he appreciated it. When they were finished Sykkuno offered to wash the dishes but Toast told him to do it later and just sit down for now.

Sykkuno’s inner alarm was going off. He could already feel cold sweat on his back as he dreaded the words he thought Toast was gonna say. Once again, he hated that he was right.

With the gentlest tone Toast didn’t used to use he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Maybe it was the tiredness. Maybe it was the hopelessness. Or maybe it was the warmth of the words. The wall he had built was crumpled down and tears were pouring out. 

He continued to sob, not caring if some of the tears got in the plate. Toast comforted him by embracing him, putting one of his hands on Sykkuno’s shoulder, and letting his shirt become wet from the tears.

The sobs quit after a while Sykkuno moved away from Toast’s arms. His face was flushed both from the tears and from the embarrassment. Toast walked to get a glass of water and gave it to Sykkuno, which he drank gratefully.

It was quiet for a while, but different from the past deafening silence he had. He tried to speak but no words came out from his mouth. He panicked a little because he knew Toast was waiting for him to speak.

Toast sensed it and reassured him that it was fine if he didn’t want to talk about it now. Sykkuno thanked him and decided to tell him. He talked about his feelings, how he felt everything was too much to handle. How everything should be perfect but he couldn’t live up to those standards. He also talked about his feelings for Corpse, he knew he could trust Toast.

He listened carefully, while occasionally rubbing Sykkuno’s back. Toast told him reassurance words. He also joked that Rae would turn Corpse into an actual corpse if she knew he had hurt her friend. Sykkuno opposed the idea strongly, but it managed to make him laugh.

They both knew that what Sykkuno experienced wasn’t something that could disappear with a simple “It will be okay.” It would be a process. But Sykkuno had his friends to back him up whenever he felt overwhelmed.

After that, things didn’t go  _ perfectly _ well, there’s still a mountain of assignments that need to be done, exams they need to study, but Sykkuno felt a little better at least. He still avoided Septic Cafe though, he didn’t think he could handle seeing Corpse for a while.

Sykkuno relaxed on the sofa, he decided to have one rest day and he planned to spend it stress-free. Toast said that he was going out so he was alone in the apartment. It was fine for him, he could relax alone by watching Youtube. 

He heard the doorbell ring and walked to the door. It might be the food delivery, so he opened the door without much thought. Oh how he was shocked when he saw Corpse was standing outside, with one drink on his hand. He was wearing all black and a mask that covered half of his face. 

“Can we talk, Sykkuno?”

Sykkuno felt speechless, he didn’t know how to respond. He had been trying to move on, seeing how the barista hadn’t texted him even once after that night. But now, the very man was in front of his door, bringing drinks.

Corpse shuffled his feet and Sykkuno realized he had been staring. He invited him in so that they could talk more comfortably. 

The room was filled with an awkward atmosphere. They were just sitting on the sofa, without anyone trying to speak first.

Corpse offered him the coffee he brought and Sykkuno accepted it. Sykkuno laughed when he realized it was Vanilla Latte but with no espresso and a note ‘extra milk’. 

Corpse also let out a small laugh, seemingly proud of himself. It relaxed them both a little bit, and soon they had a small talk. Corpse finally decided to speak first.

“I am sorry.” Corpse clenched his hands into a fist, “I shouldn’t have said what I did... I heard from someone you’re having a hard time in class and I thought it was because of me.” 

Sykkuno tried to refute but he didn’t trust his voice right now, so he decided to wait for Corpse to continue.

“I- I couldn’t handle the fact that I was the reason for you failing your classes. I couldn’t do that to you.” He took a deep breath and continued. “You’re a kind person Sykkuno, so you might not tell me if I was being overbearing… which I clearly was... so I decided to take action and asked that we stop talking. So I wouldn’t get you distracted.”

Sykkuno’s eyes were a little glossy, he didn’t like how Corpse sounded like he was blaming himself.

“I am just worried. I don’t want you to end up like me.” Corpse finished it shakily. 

Sykkuno knew Corpse had dropped out of college, so he could understand what Corpse meant. He tried his best to keep his voice from cracking, “Corpse, I appreciate the thought. But talking to you actually makes me happy, it saves me from having negative thoughts. I will admit I am having a difficult time in my studies right now, but it’s not your fault.”

Corpse laughed, “It feels like I am the one getting comforted.”

Sykkuno smiled and soon laughed too. After that was silence but it didn’t feel as awkward as before.

Sykkuno continued sipping from his drink as Corpse continued talking, “The same person who told me about your struggle also apologized to me, saying he was wrong. That’s why I decided to meet you as fast as possible, and offer you an apology drink.”

Sykkuno laughed and shook the plastic cup, “A Vanilla Latte?”

Corpse shrugged, “Brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

Sykkuno could already figure out who the ‘someone’ Corpse talked about. But didn’t mention the possibility of him being his housemate.

Corpse relaxed his back on the sofa, still looking at Sykkuno, “This misunderstanding wouldn’t have happened if we talked sooner. But back then I felt it would have been crossing a line... I don’t even know what we are, friends or... something more than friends?”

Sykkuno decided to ask, “Should we try...? Should we try dating?”

He waited for the answer. It was nerve wracking to wait for the answer, but fortunately he didn’t have to wait long. 

“I would like that.” Corpse replied.

They both smiled and held hands.

They decided to keep it a secret, at least until Sykkuno finished the semester, then he would tell his friends. He didn’t particularly hide it though. He felt some of his friends had already caught up that he was seeing someone, but decided to not pester him about it. He really had great friends. 

Watching movies together in Corpse’s apartment was a perfectly fine way to spend an evening. Sykkuno looked at his boyfriend’s face and smiled to himself. They were still mostly focused on their respective jobs, but always made an effort to spend time together when they could. 

Life wasn’t perfect for him, but it was good.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


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